Sunday, December 04, 2011

Organizations like Angel Food Ministries

There's a reason I put that title up there.On the right-hand side of my blog, if you scroll down, you'll see a list of "most popular posts". It shows which of my past entries get the most "hits". Many of those popular posts have to do with tractors. That's because when I do an entry about Cliff's tractor projects, I put the link on a tractor message board where like-minded people can appreciate what he's done. When I do that, I'll get about five hundred hits daily for a couple of days. Then my count will go down to its usual 150 hits or so per day. There's one popular post that's accompanied by a picture of the bulls-eye rash I got after being bitten by a tick. People looking for information about lyme disease come to my blog after googling something about tick-bites. There's one that is entitled "What do you do with old hankies?" After seeing that post several years ago, a reader hooked me up with a lady who makes throw-pillows out of hankies. I gave her my whole collection and she made me four pillows. There must be lots of people who have a surplus of old hankies, or this wouldn't be one of my most popular posts.

The one about Angel Food Ministries has always gotten a lot of hits, but lately the traffic on that one has really picked up, so I did some sleuthing to find out why. Turns out Angel Food Ministries is no more. A couple of years ago the people who began the program were take to court, something about mishandling of funds. Perhaps that has something to do with their ceasing operation. Here's the thing: We ordered the Angel Food Ministries food one single time; I think we paid $30. There were some low-quality steaks, a pumpkin pie, some shelf-stable milk, a can of spaghetti sauce, some sort of fruit, I think... I wish I'd written it all down at the time. Our box was smaller than the one in the above picture, and it wasn't nearly that full. I do recall that most of the stuff was over-processed (I usually make my own spaghetti sauce, and you can get cheap stuff at Aldi's that isn't bad) and there wasn't really that much food there. It didn't seem like a bargain to me. I'm fairly sure that if I watched the local grocery ads and followed the sales, I could get more food and better quality for less money. And I'd be getting stuff I normally use. I consider myself a pretty frugal shopper, so I know whereof I speak.

Speaking of smart shopping, my Dave Ramsey grocery envelope is looking pretty thin. There's $43 left, and that has to last for two-and-a-half more weeks. I bought some things for our holiday dinner (ham isn't cheap) that set us back a bit. Believe it or not, I think that $43 will do just fine. The cow keeps us in milk; there are enough vegetables in the house, both canned and frozen, to keep our meals balanced. The freezer is full of grass-fed beef. Let's see, I have three pounds of coffee, which will last a couple of weeks. That $43 will keep us in produce for the duration. I'll let you know if we have to steal from the "Pets" envelope to keep body and soul together.

4 comments:

Groceries are ruining my budget. Well that and Christmas are doing me in this year. I do shop at Aldi's but their prices have gone up too. From now until the beginning of next month I'm going to try to use only what I have. I have a stock of food in the freezer and the cupboard and it needs to be used. I'd hate to throw anything away because it had exceeded the expiration date.

It's a shame that an organization designated to help others was helping themselves. So sad. The PRICE of GROCERIES is through the roof. When my stash in the cupboards and freezer runs bare, don't know how we are going to stretch those dollars. It's tough. I know. We weren't home for Thanksgiving but I bought a 17-18 lb turkey before I left for $8.00 and tucked it away for later in year. We'll need it then. Hang in there. I'm sure that $43 will serve you well. Take care.